Liam Neeson began a new phase of his career when his 2009 film Taken became a huge box office hit. The movie made Neeson the action star of the moment and it led to a string of action films that he would headline. Taken spawned two sequels and you would be forgiven if you thought movies like The Grey or The Commuter were essentially the same films with different locations because they all began to blend together. Now, at the age of 68, Neeson says he's ready to retire his action star status.
During a chat with "Entertainment Tonight," Neeson stated "I'm 68 1/2-69 this year. There's a couple more I'm going to do this year, hopefully, COVID allowing us, there's a couple in the pipeline and then I think that will probably be it. Well, unless I'm on a Zimmer frame or something." Neeson is currently starring in The Marksman, a film that sees Neeson playing an ex-Marine-turned defender of a young Mexican boy as he faces off with drug cartel assassins. Even though the actor is ready to retire his "very particular set of skills", he admits that he'll miss the thrill of doing action movies. "I love going em. I love beating up guys half my age."
Neeson says he began to feel the toll these films were taking on him while he was shooting his upcoming action film, Blacklight:
"I've just finished Blacklight in Australia and I had a fight scene with a kid, lovely, sweet actor called Taylor and halfway through the fight I looked up, I was breathless and it didn't cost him a cent, and I said, 'Taylor, what age are you?' He said, '25'. I said, 'that's the age of my eldest son!"
Despite his desire to ease up on all the action, Neeson is still very flattered that fans still want to see him in action films. Given his age, some could believe that he has aged out from the genre but he's still very convincing as an action lead. I will say there is a sameness to a lot of his action films and it feels like they are all trying to recapture the magic of Taken but Neeson can still hold his own with the best of them. The upside to the actor retiring from action films is that he can go back to doing roles that have a bit more substance because I think a lot of people forget that Neeson is actually a very fine actor.
Do YOU think Liam Neeson should retire from action films?